


Revenge is Bittersweet

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [73]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Blackmail, Don't Judge Me, Episode Tag: s04e14 Blowback, Gen, I made Jenny a villain in this one, Jenny Shepard Bashing, Manipulation, Non-Sexual Age Play, POV Third Person Limited, Sorry Not Sorry, Team as Family, because why not, i needed to progress the storyline okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 04:45:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13826763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Jenny needed Gibbs on her side for this. She wasn't going to stop until she had La Grenouille.





	Revenge is Bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. I wrote this from Jenny's POV, partly because it worked best this way and partly because I really, _really_ wanted her to play a more sinister role in this series and I love writing from the POV of villains. This will _probably_ be the only time I write from her POV, however, so don't get too excited! I just thought it would be an experimental change-up. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me tackle, all of Season 4 is fair game now, as is anything before it.

Jenny knew she had to do this. It was the only way she was going to get Gibbs on her side with this whole thing. He had never been much for revenge vendettas, not when it came to the risk of his people. He was mad that she had been using Tony; she knew that. She didn't understand quite how mad until after he had told McGee and Ziva to follow Harrow but not approach him, the benign smile dropped from his face, and he looked just about ready to kill her. " _My_  SFA," he growled. "DiNozzo works for _me_ \--"

"And you work for no one?" Jenny interrupted, arching an eyebrow.

Gibbs clenched his jaw, staring at her. If looks could kill, she'd be dead ten times over, but she was unfazed. Gibbs had his bouts of anger, but he never went so far as to attack someone, not when there were witnesses, not when there were consequences. And here, there would be both. No one in the room, but plenty of people to see him leave. "He's not gonna do that anymore," Gibbs said flatly.

"Or what?" Jenny asked. "You'll do what, exactly, to get him to follow your orders and disobey mine? I'm his boss, Jethro. Here, I'm _everyone's_  boss."

Gibbs looked beyond furious now. His face was a glacial mask, revealing absolutely nothing, and Jenny knew that meant that the storm was about to make landfall. She braced for impact. "You're doing a pretty bang-up job of it," Gibbs scoffed, venom dripping in his voice. "This isn't a sanctioned mission; this is a _personal vendetta_!"

"And you know all about those, don't you, Jethro?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs held up a finger, and growled, "Don't."

Jenny laughed. "That's enough, _Special Agent Gibbs_ ," she said. "I can say and do as I please; you're the one who should be watching his tongue. You are, after all, in the presence of your boss, or have you forgotten?"

"DiNozzo won't be doing this anymore," Gibbs repeated. "And if you involve the rest of my team in any way, you _will_  regret it."

He stood up and walked to the door before Jenny threw down her ace. "Why? Because they'll run to their 'Papa' and you'll make me stop?"

Hand frozen on the door handle, Gibbs didn't even look in her direction for a solid half minute. Then he dropped his hand, turned sharply on his heel, and looked her dead in the eye. "How long?"

"Have I known for certain? Since your little margarita safari when Agent DiNozzo broke down out of the blue in my office one day. Have I suspected? Ever since that very strange conversation I had overheard between you, Ms. Scuito, and Agent McGee over a year ago. Certain complaints about your team in the field, and allegations from convicted criminals didn't add up, so I dug a little and uncovered that you, Agent Gibbs, have been doing more than a little unauthorized work with your agents in the off-hours."

"It's not a crime to socialize with co-workers," Gibbs bristled.

"But having an unauthorized, off-the-record relationship with not one, but _two_  of your direct subordinates?" Jenny asked. "Now, that's more than enough to get you fired."

"It's not like that," Gibbs said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I know," Jenny said, a smirk creeping up her lips. "But anyone I might report this to certainly won't."

Gibbs stared at her a long moment, and Jenny felt a brief fear in the pit of her stomach that Gibbs would just strangle her then and there. She was only five-five, he was six foot even, it wouldn't be hard for him to pin her down and not let her go until she was dead. But he just sighed and shook his head. "If any of them get hurt...especially DiNozzo...that's on you. And don't think I won't collect where payment is due."

Jenny allowed the threat to hang in the air a moment until Gibbs thought his point was made and he straightened. She cleared her throat. "I know about McGee, too, Gibbs, don't forget. And it's not like you to play favorites."

"McGee can handle himself undercover well enough," Gibbs said. "It's DiNozzo I worry about."

"Worry that he'll blow his cover? That hardly seems likely," Jenny scoffed.

"No...worry that he'll get too attached," Gibbs said. And without another word, he left.

* * *

The ride to Quebec was awkward. The plane they used was not going to be tracked, not on any record, but that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was she was sitting with a very tense Anthony DiNozzo next to her and a paler-than-a-sheet Timothy McGee across the aisle, fiddling with a notebook and a pencil. Gibbs had obviously told them about her little threat earlier, and she was not pleased they knew she was using it as leverage for this. "It's nothing personal--"

"I really don't care, _Director_ ," DiNozzo said, jaw clenched tight as he spoke. "It's something that _was_ private."

McGee's grip on the pencil he was holding got tighter, until his knuckles were white and Jenny was worried it would snap in two. "This isn't happening," he mumbled to himself. "It's not happening, it's not happening, it's not happening."

"He's been doing that all afternoon, thanks to _your_  stupid power play," DiNozzo spat. "He nearly had a stroke when Gibbs told us what happened in your office."

Jenny scoffed. "Now you're just making things up," she said.

DiNozzo glanced across the plane, and Jenny looked over to find McGee rocking in his seat. A low hum was resonating from his chest. She glanced at DiNozzo. "Suffice to say, he's a little stressed," he said with false cheer. "It took him too long to relax around everyone, Director, and you set back two years of progress with your little stunt."

Jenny looked to DiNozzo again, and growled in her head for the fiftieth time that she was going to _kill_  Gibbs for his revenge of putting her in the front of the plane with the two people who right now hated her the most in the world.

"Tony," McGee said softly from his spot. "Can we move? Please?"

"Not yet," DiNozzo said, jaw set. "We're half an hour away from our meet-up, you can wait until then to do whatever you need to, right?"

"I guess," McGee said, shifting in his seat.

DiNozzo shook his head and sighed. "Bud, you've gotten this far, you can wait just half an hour longer, I know you can."

Jenny blinked at the choice of affectionate term and really _looked_  at McGee. His eyes were too wide, too afraid for the agent she knew. His posture was inward drawn, and he was furiously crossing and uncrossing his legs. The notebook open in his lap was filled with childish doodles and messy handwriting that looked like some sort of story. Gibbs had given him everything he thought a child version of McGee might need to keep occupied on a plane trip. Except, apparently, a bathroom break, or a seat away from her.

It felt like she was in _The Twilight Zone_  and had stepped into some alternate dimension. She had seen DiNozzo break into tears in her office but McGee had a quieter way of breaking down, far more internalized and far more destructive, she had no doubt. Her mind drew her back to the first time she had seen DiNozzo actually show weakness around her since Gibbs had left, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

_"That man was our only lead on the case and your agent killed him?! That kind of reckless behavior is unacceptable, Agent DiNozzo, and that falls on you!" Jenny yelled._

_DiNozzo jumped and Jenny didn't fail to notice the sudden glassy quality his eyes took. "You're completely right, Director, and I_ will _be talking to Lee about this incident. We will find who is responsible for this ASAP."_

_"Agent DiNozzo, there are times I think you are a more than competent agent, possibly even a better leader than Gibbs. And then there are days like today where I even wonder how you got into this agency!" Jenny exclaimed. "A talk is not going to fix this, it's not going to bring your only witness back to life! You're not going to get your man at this rate and when he kills again, it will be_ your _fault!"_

_DiNozzo's breath hitched before doubling into overtime. "You're completely right ma'am," he repeated weakly. "I_ will _find a way to fix this, however. You can trust me on that."_

_"Trust you?" Jenny laughed incredulously. "Agent DiNozzo, right now I wish that I never even knew you in the first place."_

_DiNozzo's floodgates broke and he had rushed out of the room, tears still falling as he ran down the steps, past the bullpen, and to the elevator. Jenny had followed. "What happened up there?" McGee asked her. "Is Tony all right?"_

_"Fine," Jenny had said with no small amount of ice in her voice, never slowing her stride. "I just need to make a few final things clear to him away from prying eyes and ears."_

_She had slipped into the elevator just as the doors were shutting DiNozzo in and she stopped it, leaning against the wall as he just completely broke down. He kept muttering something under his breath and it took her a minute to catch it. "--Papa, I need Papa, why did you have to leave why why why--"_

_After a time, DiNozzo's tears stopped and he stood there, unable to look the Director in the eye. "I_ will _fix this," he told her flatly, turning on the elevator and letting them both out._

_"Oh, I have no doubt you will, Agent DiNozzo, if you value your job," she said._

_When she needed someone undercover, DiNozzo then had been the obvious choice. His undercover skills were far beyond excellent, and all she had needed to do was say the word, "Papa," and he did whatever she told him to do._

She was brought back to the present by the plane landing, and McGee running out of it towards the facilities of the airport, no doubt to find a restroom. The back, where Ducky, Gibbs, and Ziva had been separated from them, was opened up to allow an exit from the plane. Gibbs was still avoiding her like the plague. Ducky wasn't meeting her eye. Even Ziva was short with her when she asked, "Where do you want me to set up?"

Jenny pointed and Ziva nodded, stalking off. "Was everyone on this team aware of what's been going on except for me?" she huffed.

DiNozzo laughed and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah. But maybe that's because...you're not a part of this team."

* * *

Telling Ziva to stand down was about the hardest thing she ever had to do. And afterwards, of course, it started to cause a domino effect of anger. "What was that?!" Gibbs hissed.

"Last minute orders from on high," Jenny snapped back. "Apparently the CIA thinks they can handle this on their own."

"The CIA." Gibbs laughed incredulously. "Since when has the _CIA_  ever stopped you?!"

"Contrary to popular belief, Jethro, there are some lines I'm not willing to cross when it comes to our allies in other agencies," Jenny growled.

"We came all the way up here," DiNozzo growled. "You _strong-arm_  us into coming up here, we do what you say, Ducky put his very life on the line, only for you to call it off at the last second because of a phone call from the CIA."

McGee was looking more terrified than incensed, but even he wasn't keeping his mouth shut. "I hate this," he muttered. "This is the worst thing we could have done and I hated every second of it, and we don't even get to go home yet."

"All of us need to get on our plane and get back, unless we want someone asking why NCIS is crossing international borders," Ziva pointed out.

McGee groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I'd rather drive," he grumbled. "I don't want to go back on that plane."

DiNozzo wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, I'll play Dots and Boxes with you until you fall asleep or until we're back in DC, whichever comes first. But we have to get on that plane."

"DiNozzo's right," Gibbs said, and Jenny knew there was some affectionate nickname Gibbs was holding back because of her presence. "And you two are the only ones who won't strangle the Director left alone with her, so you have to sit in the front."

"I'm flattered," Jenny bit.

"Can we at least have the back open this time?" McGee negotiated. "Please..."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and sighed, shaking his head with a smile. "If that's what it takes to get you to not whine on the trip home, then sure."

"I wouldn't whine," McGee defended, crossing his arms.

"You do have a tendency to sulk, Timothy, and with that generally comes the bemoaning of one's condition commonly known as whining," Ducky said with a smile.

"I wouldn't whine!" McGee exclaimed as their plane taxied onto the runway.

They all got onto the plane quickly, this time DiNozzo making sure he was sitting next to McGee and Jenny was sitting across the aisle. She settled down with a magazine that was left on the plane, but she didn't miss the angry looks Gibbs was giving her, and she knew that they were going to have a long, hard discussion about the use of the MCRT when they got back.

Was it really worth all of this?

...Yes, it _had_  to be.


End file.
